No “must sees” tickets? Try these alternatives.

[revised March 2024] “Everybody goes to the same handful of sites. If you just go to those sites, you’re going to have a trip that is shaped by crowds. Or you can break free from that and realise that you can study the options and choose sites that are best for you. You can go to alternative places that have that edge and that joy and that creative kind of love of life”.

This is what a “travel guru” like Rick Steves said recently about traveling in Europe in a crowded season!

Rome is a big city and there are so many alternatives to the busy Colosseum or Vatican. It’s not only a matter of crowds: tickets are hard to get and expensive. So,  here are few alternative ideas, and we remain at your disposal for customised itineraries:

• Instead of Colosseum: an in-depth tour of the Forum and Palatine hill. Or Ostia antica, Caracalla Baths, Circus Maximus.
• Instead of Vatican Museums: look for Raphael at Villa Farnesina, for Michelangelo at St Peter’s in  Chain, enjoy the history and art of the  Capitoline Museum, be taken away by Pietro da Cortona’s ceiling in Palazzo Barberini
• Instead of St. Peter’s basilica: three major basilicas, St Paul’s outside the Walls, St. Mary Major, St. John in Lateran.
• Instead of Borghese Gallery: Palazzo Barberini, Palazzo Colonna, Galleria Doria Pamphili or Galleria Corsini
• If you cannot find tickets of the Pantheon (mandatory reservation), we are really sorry, but a visit of the Domus Aurea will offer a great compensations in term of  impressive domes!